Patriots make statement in blowout win over Texans

The Houston Texans went into New England with the best record in the AFC, but the Patriots were the team that looked like the best in the conference.

Tom Brady threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns as the Patriots (10-3) throttled the Texans 42-14 on Monday night. A defense that struggled early in the season confounded Matt Schaub. Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork seemingly shutdown Arian Foster and the Texans’ (11-2) ground game by himself and the ball continuously bounced the Patriots way.

The Patriots are now a fourth quarter collapse against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6 from a 10-game winning streak. It’s the fifth time this season the Patriots have scored more than 40 points in a game.

New England scored on each of their first three possessions in building a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Brady connected with tight end Aaron Hernandez for a 7-yard touchdown on their first possession of the game. Schaub missed a wide-open Foster in the middle of the field and forced a ball into the end zone that was intercepted by Devin McCourty. Brady then found receiver Brandon Lloyd for a 37-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 14-0 lead.

Brady and Hernandez connected again on a 4-yard score as the Patriots took a 21-0 lead into halftime. New England got the ball to start the second half and converted that drive into a touchdown as well. Brady hit recently re-signed receiver Donte Stallworth for a 63-yard catch and run for a touchdown to go up 28-0 early in the third quarter.

After Foster scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to finally put the Texans on the board, another touchdown showed it was just not Houston’s night. Brady threw a screen pass to running back Danny Woodhead for 16 yards before the ball was punched out by Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. The ball bounced forward into the end zone and Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd was waiting and fell on the loose ball for another score to take a 35-0 lead.

Stevan Ridley added a 14-yard touchdown run before both teams went to their benches. Houston backup quarterback T.J. Yates scored on a 1-yard run with two minutes to play.

Schuab finished 19 of 32 for 232 yards and an interception. Foster and Ben Tate each ran for just 46 yards for the Texans.

New England stays home next week to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. The loss for Houston ended a six-game winning streak and ended a stretch of four road games in five weeks for the Texans. Houston returns home to face the Indianapolis Colts next week.

As a Broncos fan, I’m increasingly concerned there is no good way to beat this Patriots team. They had their way with us early in the season, and I kind of chalked that up to Peyton still gelling with his new team. Now that Peyton and the rest of the Broncos seem to be on the same page, the Patriots seem to be playing on an entirely different level from the rest of the league. They are scary good. Even if they come to Denver to play, there’s no inclement weather I can think of that doesn’t hurt Peyton as much or more than Brady.

I really don’t like the Patriots, but they are pretty amazing to watch as they steamroll over the rest of the league…

all people were talking about pregame was texans this and that and making a statement.. i thought this was more of a statement game for an underpreciated brady/pats team this year.. still cant beat my giants in the SB tho but good team still

In my opinion , if Tom Brady wins another superbowl , he should be labeled as the GREATEST OF ALL TIME! Just amazing how they can win like they do , when some teams can’t even win 10 games in a 3-4 year span lol

As a texan fan I really like schaub but he underperforms in prime time games and the offensive play calling is getting too predictable. I say in 2-3 years we should tank for Johnny Heisman

Satan's Valet says:Dec 10, 2012 11:53 PM

What happened to all the people who kept harping about how the Patriots haven’t beaten any “good” teams? We all know the Patriots biggest weaknesses, it’s secondary and the pass rush. Well they looked pretty good today considering the number of rookies they had in the game….

Watching Tom Brady run this offense is a thing of beauty. As a Minnesotan and an unabashed fan of the Vikings, I am left longing for a QB like Brady.

htown1035 says:Dec 10, 2012 11:59 PM

Tough loss, but the Texans are still the #1 seed and can win the division Sunday by beating the Colts.

pftcensorssuck says:Dec 11, 2012 12:01 AM

It’s almost embarrassing, how good New England is, to totally OWN the #1 AFC seed like this, on both sides of the ball.

Brady with 4 TD’s and a passer rating of 125, showing the vaunted Texan’s defense what a world-class QB is like, and New England’s once-shaky defense thoroughly shutting down a highly ranked Houston offense. I mean, 46 yards for Foster ….. seriously??????

richwizl says:Dec 11, 2012 12:01 AM

Texans worst nightmare, facing The Pats at home in December on MNF; especially when they’re on a mission to win another Super Bowl. Pats Defense will not be laughed at anymore. They now have it all together and when Gronk returns, they will beat everybody. I hope the Giants make it to New Orleans for a rematch because this team is much better than last year’s.

Okay so we got beat. By a lot. I won’t deny that. Pats were a far better team tonight. Brady played like Brady does in clutch moments. Their defense played a hell of a lot better than I had ever expected and Brady made our defense look like a bunch of scrubs. I’ll be the first to admit it. But to be completely honest, (and by no means am I trying to make any excuses, I’m just stating facts) the Pats are by far in the worst division this year. Bills, Jets, Dolphins? I mean other than the AFC West with the Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders all stinking it up. The Colts are most likely going to make the playoffs. Nobody in the AFC East other than the Pats have the slightest chance of making a wild card. And the AFC is not strong this year. The Jags are one of the worst teams in the NFL but the Titans are just as good as the Bills/Jets/Dolphins. And if you look at the Pats entire schedule…(I know, I know the Texans had a pretty decent schedule too) Pats=== Titans, Cardinals, Ravens (Which they lost), Bills, Broncos, Seahawks, Jets, Rams, Bills, Colts, Jets, Dolphins, Texans tonight, then 49ers next week (finally a good team) and then finish out Jacksonville and Dolphins again. So Ravens, Broncos, Texans and 49ers are the 4 good teams they played (Seahawks if you want to count winning records) Maybe it’s just me, but a team that makes it to the Super Bowl should have a little more challenging schedule than that the following year? I dunno it just kinda seems that the Pats always have a fairly easy stroll to the big dance. But nevertheless, they made us look like poopsauce. Just my two cents.

peytonsneck18 says:Dec 11, 2012 12:28 AM

and as i stated last week, the overated texans will lose to Pats this week and they will lose to Luck next weekend, and the colts will win back the AFC south title again, we only let the texans hold it for a year, but we are taking back whats ours, u guys are still our foster brother in the division!!!

The Patriots can beat any team at anytime, its when they run into the Giants that things get difficult. I was never a believer in the Texans because of Schaub. The AFC is Brady or Manning’s to take. The NFC however, could be a wild January.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. Did the Pats deserve to win? Absolutely. But the final score wasn’t a good reflection of the game. Pats were gifted 21 points – 7 by Kareem Jackson not falling on a fumble (which easily could’ve been a scoop and score the other way) and 14 by the officials with a bogus PI on 3&10 (which was called the exact opposite way later in the game), and Brady’s 3&5 scramble slide – which started a full yard short of the 1st down, and somehow ended up a full yard beyond the marker.

This is becoming routine; Pats start off slow for first three games, losing at least one game they clearly should win, pundits talk of Patriots in decline and reminisce over the glory days, Pats win a couple in a row before destroying the opposition and winning 11 of next 13, face a minor scare in one of the playoff games before rolling into the Super Bowl and losing to Eli Manning. *Yawn*

The debut of those Texan high school letterman jackets were apropos considering the results…but untimely and in poor taste. I’ll bet they taste bad right about now too….

I despise cut blocking teams, and the Texans are a cut blocking team…..sorry.

I have to think Indy takes one of those two remaining games, and Minny is no gimme either….. If it wasn’t for the Ravens implosion, they could end up the 4th seed.

Speaking of the Ravens, Denver catches another break with the untimely firing of the o-coordinator, even though it’s probably the right long term move.

As for MVP, don’t get sentimental and confuse MVP with Comeback Player of The Year…… The MVP is the same guy that’s been the MVP for the last decade, yet inexplicably has just two awards to show for it. I suspect that is not the trophy he is looking for though……

Obviously Lombardi’s aren’t won in December, but at full strength, I think this is the best Patriots team since 2007 and perhaps even since 2004. Talib’s skill in man coverage allows them to do things on defense they haven’t been comfortable doing since Samuel or Law. It’s allowing their stud LB’s to be disruptive and Wilfork is a beast inside. Give this version of Brady a good defense again and forget about it…

And keep in mind they just wiped the floor with an 11-1 team WITHOUT Gronk who should be back for the playoffs. Long way to go, but the sky is the limit.

This is by far the best game the Pats have played all season. The lull after their initial 3 scoring drives was a little concerning, but that’s a good defense on the other side. They looked like they might be a special team…but we will see.

Also Vince Wilfork? Worth every penny.

sfviaphilly says:Dec 11, 2012 2:43 AM

Total drubbing… Why was Wes Welker returning final kickoff with 2 min left at 42-14?

Ok, I’m shocked. But, it does look like NE is the best team in the AFC.

psousa1 says:Dec 11, 2012 9:08 AM

Going to be interesting to see how the Texans bounce back – learn from it and push on or regroup. They have what it takes to re-group but you just saw them look like “not going our way tonight let’s just get out of here without getting hurt” by halftime. Pats are doing this without Gronkowski too. The Pats defense, that couldn’t get off the field and always had to hang on at the end of the game, earlier this year is not the same defense. Aquib Talib coming over from Tampa and the little midget rookie Alfonzo Dennard are now both the starting corners and Devin McCourty has moved to safety where he has been great. A total midseason transformation for the defense. Also helps the defensive coordinator took his head out of his azz and brings numbers at the QB instead of the base 4 and let the QB pick them apart.

NE is playing lights out, but they haven’t won the big one since they were caught cheating in Spygate. They probably won’t win the big one this time either. They benefit from a lousy division in a lousy conference… It’s all about matchups and it’s hard to win out the post-season with a suspect defense.

brazzz01 says:Dec 11, 2012 9:37 AM

“And New England doesn’t get any favoritism from the nfl office, right?”

The schedules for who plays where are predetermined years in advance. Yeah, years.

Not that I’d expect ignorant Patriot haters to know anything about the sport.

txndave says:Dec 11, 2012 9:59 AM

We are the new kids on the block, and the Pats weren’t having it in their house. Are we going to roll with the big dogs or piss with the puppies…
We’ll see.
Go Texans!

richwizl says:Dec 11, 2012 10:22 AM

By the way, I’m praying for a Pats/Giants rematch in the Super Bowl, so we can put a drubbing on those fakers who have squeaked by us twice, with a little help from their friends.

Ahahahaha! You guys really laid an egg last night. How many times have we heard the road to the superbowl goes through houston? What is it about your state that breeds such massively overinflated egos? Too funny.

Whichever Division The Patriots played in they would take first pace; AFC North, NFC East, no matter. They’ll prove it Sunday night against one of the best teams in the NFC.

rc33 says:Dec 11, 2012 5:26 PM

The Patriots consistency is what’s really remarkable. I mean, how long has this been going on? Ten years? Twelve years?
Along with, but to a lesser extent, Pittsburgh, they make being competitive every season look easy…and its anything but easy.

I’m hoping for a Pats/Giants rematch. Yes the Giants won the 2 Superbowl games, but neither game was a blowout. One play in both games goes the Pats way, different results. But the Giant fans brag as if they won by blow outs.

kathysharib says:Dec 11, 2012 7:26 PM

The Patriots have been to five Superbowls in the past 10 years, won three of those, and still don’t get the respect the so deserve.

Absolutely no fight from the Texans …. how is it a Matt Flynn led Packer team with 15 guys on IR could go into New England and take ‘em to the limit – but a healthy texans team can’t even keep up with the patriots in the first half ?

brazzz01 says:Dec 14, 2012 11:24 AM

I wonder how many Pats haters realize that taping from the sidelines wasn’t banned until 2005… the year after they won their last ring. So there is absolutely no asterisks beside any title.

I bet very few Pats haters knew that, since I find that Pats haters in general are some of the most ignorant and uninformed fans in existence about the sport.